title: Photoisomerization-induced manipulation of single-electron tunneling for novel Si-based optical memory.
abstract: We demonstrated optical manipulation of single-electron tunneling (SET) by photoisomerization of diarylethene molecules in a metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) structure. Stress is placed on the fact that device operation is realized in the practical device configuration of MIS structure and that it is not achieved in structures based on nanogap electrodes and scanning probe techniques. Namely, this is a basic memory device configuration that has the potential for large-scale integration. In our device, the threshold voltage of SET was clearly modulated as a reversible change in the molecular orbital induced by photoisomerization, indicating that diarylethene molecules worked as optically controllable quantum dots. These findings will allow the integration of photonic functionality into current Si-based memory devices, which is a unique feature of organic molecules that is unobtainable with inorganic materials. Our proposed device therefore has enormous potential for providing a breakthrough in Si technology.
authors.affiliation: International Center for Materials Nanoarchitechtonics (WPI-MANA), National Institute for Materials Science , 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba 305-0044, Japan.
authors.forename: Ryoma
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hayakawa
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Higashiguchi
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Matsuda
authors.forename: Toyohiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chikyow
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wakayama